In the late 1960s, the Soviet Union became aware that the U.S. was developing a new generation of jet fighters that had an exceptional range, heavy armor, and great agility in the air. These U.S. aircraft, the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Hornet, and F/A-18 Hornet dominated U.S. air power for three decades. In the context of the Cold War, the Soviets could not be seen to be lagging behind the Americans. Their response to these new U.S. aircraft was the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker, which was designed as a long-range air superiority aircraft and interceptor.
The first of the modified pre-production aircraft appeared in 1981, but it was not until 1984 that significant numbers of the Su-27 started to enter service. Eventually some 680 Su-27 were built for the Soviets, of which 400 remain in service with the Russian Tactical Air Force today. Outside of Russia, the Su-27 is also in service with the Chinese, and on the inventories of the air forces of Vietnam, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Syria, and Angola.
This book describes in depth the development, operational career, history, and variants within the Su-27 family. The book incorporates color and black and white photos to portray some of the various camouflage schemes carried by the type in Soviet, Russian, and other air forces over the past two decades.
The MiG-31 Foxhound long-range interceptor flew in prototype form as the Ye-155MP in 1975 and entered production in 1979, with the first regiments becoming operational in 1982. It has also been sold to China, and it remains in service in significant numbers. Yefim Gordon, the doyen of Russian aviation writers, continues to amass an outstanding archive of previously unpublished materials. Though the MiG-31 was covered to some extent in the now out-of- print and sought-after Aerofax on the MiG-25 and -31, this new book will be close to a definitive work on this important aircraft and include an enormous amount of newly released and acquired information and a splendid array of unpublished photographs (including detailed walk-around shots) and drawings. The narrative of course includes detailed discussion of the background to the project, its development, versions, service, weaponry, and comparisons with its contemporaries such as the F-14 Tomcat. The aircraft is a favorite with enthusiasts and modelers, and the extensive coverage, both technical and operational, backed up by high-quality images and drawings, will have wide appeal. This book is intended as the first of an occasional series of in-depth monographs on major Russian types.
The Sun provides amateur astronomers with one of the few opportunities for daytime astronomy.
In order to see the major features of our nearest star, special telescopes that have a very narrow visible bandwidth are essential. The bandwidth has to be as narrow as 1 × 10-10 m (1 Angstrom) and centred on the absorption line of neutral hydrogen. This makes many major features of the Sun’s chromosphere visible to the observer. Such narrow-band "Fabry-Perot etalon filters" are high technology, and until the introduction of the Coronado range of solar telescopes, were too expensive for amateur use. The entry-level Coronado telescope, the PST (Personal Solar Telescope) costs under $500.
Solar prominences (vast columns of plasma, best seen at the edge of the solar disk), filaments, flares, sunspots, plage and active regions are all visible and can be imaged to produce spectacular solar photographs. Philip Pugh has assembled a team of contributors who show just how much solar work can be done with Coronado telescopes, and explain how to get the best from these marvellous instruments.
